Lara Croft

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Lara Croft

An early model of Lara Croft from Tomb Raider: Legend.
Game series Tomb Raider series
First game Tomb Raider
Creator(s) Toby Gard
Voice actor(s) Shelley Blonde (Tomb Raider)
Judith Gibbins (Tomb Raider II, Tomb Raider III)
Jonell Elliot (Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider Chronicles, Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness)
Keeley Hawes (Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary)
In-Universe Information
Occupation Archaeologist Adventurer
Relatives Lord Richard Croft, Lady Amelia Croft

Lara Croft is a fictional English video game character and the heroine of the Tomb Raider series of video games, movies and comic books. In the two movies, she is portrayed by Angelina Jolie.

Contents

[edit] Fictional Character Biography

Lara Croft's biography has been significantly retconned; it is now almost completely different from the original biography which was relevant for the first six Tomb Raider games. This is due to the recent biography and character change made by Crystal Dynamics for Tomb Raider: Legend

[edit] Original Biography (pre-Legend)

Lara Croft in the original Tomb Raider
Lara Croft in the original Tomb Raider

The daughter of Lord Henshingly Croft, Lara was brought up in the secure world of aristocracy. During her school years she attended a lecture by renowned archeologist Werner Von Croy, sparking an interest in archaeology. When she was 16, she found out Von Croy was preparing an expedition to Cambodia, and convinced her parents to let her join him on the expedition. The expedition ended in disaster though, as Von Croy triggered a trap resulting in him being sealed inside a tomb - Lara having to leave him in order to avoid the same fate. Von Croy survived, but the incident caused a grudge between them that lasted for years. Later, at her Swiss finishing school, she took to the art of extreme skiing and spent a holiday in the Himalayas searching for more challenging terrain. However, on her return trip, the plane crashed deep within the mountains, leaving Lara as the sole survivor.

She spent two weeks wandering alone through the Himalayas before walking into the remote Tibetan village of Tokakeriby. Her harrowing experience had a profound effect on her. No longer able to stand the suffocating atmosphere of upper-class British society, she realized she was only truly alive when she was travelling alone.

Despite this drastic life change, Lara still retained some essence of her upbringing - most notably her polite, upper-class accent.

Lara's parents though were less than convinced about the benefits of this chosen lifestyle. They ceased to associate with their daughter, terminating her monthly allowance.

While staying in England, Lara lived in a mansion in Surrey which she inherited from an aunt many years ago. At one time she saw little use for it but now realises that, if nothing else, it at least proved handy for storage of the various artifacts she has acquired on her travels. The mansion is looked after by her butler Winston, who has been with her since her childhood, and as a result has developed a fatherly bond with her. She has also had a custom-built assault course constructed on the grounds for training purposes.

Lara doesn't consider tomb raiding as a job, but as a way of life - although she has been known to uncover archaeological artifacts on commission. To fund her radical lifestyle, Lara writes travel books. Titles so far have included 'A Tyrannosaurus is Jawing at My Head' and 'Slaying Bigfoot'. Her common complaint, though, is that she doesn't have enough time to put pen to paper.

As well as uncovering many notorious archaeological sites - including the Atlantean pyramid and the last resting place of the dagger of Xian, Lara has found fame in other areas. She has driven the dangerous Pan-American Highway from Tierra del Fuego in South America in record time (although this was later denounced by the Guinness Book of Records due to her "reckless driving") and she hit the headlines again when she hunted out and killed Bigfoot in North America. She also became the youngest ever to climb Mount Everest.

[edit] Retconned Biography (Tomb Raider Legend, Movies)

This is Lara's new biography from Tomb Raider Legend and the Tomb Raider films: The Right Honourable Lara Croft is the 11th Countess of Abbingdon. The Croft family was granted the title and rights to Abbingdon, Surrey by King Edward VI in 1547. The Croft Estates are comprised of three separate manor houses, two of which are maintained by the National Trust, and the third is home to Lady Croft.

Karima Adebibe as the Legend era Lara Croft
Karima Adebibe as the Legend era Lara Croft

Lara Croft was born in Surrey's Parkside hospital to Amelia Croft, Countess of Abbingdon and to the notorious archaeologist Richard Croft, 10th Earl of Abbingdon. Between the ages of three and six, she attended the Abbingdon Girls' School, where it quickly became clear that she was an exceptionally gifted child.

Lara had suffered several personal tragedies, including the deaths of both parents (before the events of Legend her mother was thought to be dead, but it was revealed that she didn't die) on separate occasions before she had come of age. Reputably an accredited genius and Olympic-standard gymnast, Lady Croft was the focus of wild speculation and intense debate in both the scientific and political communities in addition to the popular press.

At the age of nine she survived a plane crash in the Himalayas, and shortly after her mother mysteriously vanished. In perhaps the first story of her prodigious indomitability, she somehow survived a solo ten-day trek across the Himalayan Mountains, one of the most hostile environments on the planet. The story goes that when she arrived in Kathmandu she went to the nearest bar and made a polite telephone call to her father asking if it would be convenient for him to come and pick her up.

For six years following the plane crash, Lara rarely left her father's side, travelling around the world from one archaeological dig site to another. During this period she was ostensibly given a standard education from private tutors, but it would probably be more accurate to say she was her father's full time apprentice.

When Lara was fifteen, her father went missing in Cambodia. Extensive searches by the authorities and Lara herself turned up human remains that could not definitively be identified. Since Lord Croft's body was not officially recovered, Lara could not directly inherit the Croft title and Lara was thrust into a bitter family feud over control of the Abbingdon estates with her uncle Lord Errol Croft. Lara eventually won the legal battle, and took possession of her inheritance but at the cost of a deep rift in the Croft family that left her estranged from her living relatives.

Lara's methods are frequently called into question by government officials and other practicing archaeologists. She has been described variously as anything from cavalier to downright irresponsible. Some scholars suggest that her notorious lack of documentation and brute force methodology had contaminated countless sites and done more harm than good. There have even been allegations that Lara actually took items from these sites before informing the international community of their locations, and that she is "nothing more than a glorified treasure hunter". Despite the tabloid infatuation with her, Lara Croft guards her privacy with complete determination. She has never granted an interview nor made any personal comment to any of the rumours associated with her, preferring to express herself through brief formal statements given by the family solicitors, Hardgraves and Moore.

[edit] Discovered Artifacts

[edit] Overview

Designed by Toby Gard, the heroine of the video game series has spawned seven incarnations of the game, where the heroine must defeat ancient deities, spirits, evil gangsters, and even dinosaurs. Since its debut in 1996, Tomb Raider games have been made for the PC, Mac, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Saturn, Dreamcast, N-Gage, Pocket PC, Game Boy Advance, and Game Boy Color. On April 11, 2006, the seventh game in the series, Tomb Raider: Legend, was released for the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Xbox 360, and PC. Tomb Raider Legend later came out on the Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS in October of that year. A remake of the first game is coming out later this year.

It is said the original name for Lara Croft was to be Laura Cruise. It was later changed to Lara Croft due to the fact that an American accent would change the pronunciation of "Laura" to "Lara", and that "Cruise" didn't sound British. Because of the similar pronunciations, she is sometimes referred to as Laura.

Lara's evolution through the Tomb Raider series.
Lara's evolution through the Tomb Raider series.
Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft
Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft

Lara was brought to life by actress Angelina Jolie for the movies Tomb Raider (2001) and Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003). She has also been portrayed by models for public appearances, most notably model/actress Rhona Mitra, glamour model Nell McAndrew (who was immediately axed from her stint as Lara in 1999 after posing nude in Playboy), and the top model Jill De Jong. Despite some initial reservations, on February 14, 2006, it was announced that a previously unknown 20-year-old sales assistant from London, Karima Adebibe, would star as the new Lara Croft model and would shortly begin a training program to play the role. Some feel she looks very close to the video game Lara Croft in publicity shots.

[edit] Continuity

Note that there are in fact two versions of Lara Croft's biography. The first one was active in the first six Tomb Raider games, whilst a second, re-invented biography was introduced for the seventh game in the series, Tomb Raider: Legend. Some facts in one biography are contradicted by the other, including the name of Lara's father. In the original biography, his name was Henshingly but, in the second, it became Richard. This was most likely an attempt to tie in with the canon of the Tomb Raider movies.

The next addition to the Tomb Raider family will be Tomb Raider: Anniversary which is set to be released in May 2007. It is a revival of the original Tomb Raider story line, which is enriched with graphics from the Tomb Raider: Legend engine while holding on to the original story and locations. It is highly anticipated as fans have been calling for a remake of the original video games for years.

Eidos Interactive has expressed their wish to join together a film and a game for 'Tomb Raider 9'.

[edit] Controversy

Some fans, as well as Lara's original designer Toby Gard, considered Croft's growing status as a sex symbol in the video game fandom through each progressive game sequel—with increasingly gratuitous artwork and advertisements—detrimental to the character, who gained more attention from her appearance than her tough-as-nails spirit and determination. In response to this, it was stated that she would undergo a redesign and become more "demure" in Tomb Raider: Legend for the sake of becoming more appealing to female gamers. However, some of the outfits she wore in this game were far more revealing than anything seen in previous games (such as the low-cut,torn black dress from the Japan levels) and some have still derided her form as being unrealistic (especially in regard to her BMI) It should be noted that Lara is designed in a stylised manner that is supposed to represent an exaggeratedly feminine form, and is not intended to be a totally realistic character.

Some fans have been critical of the video games for portraying her in an increasingly bloodthirsty manner, and occasionally not giving players the option to avoid lethal force against human characters. Tomb Raider III was heavily criticized by some for showing Lara committing acts of murder against security guards, police officers and tribespeople[1].

Also controversial (in early games of the series) is Lara's killing of wildlife such as tigers and other animals. In response to this, the makers of the 2006 "re-launch" game, Legend have toned down her bloodthirstiness.[2] While Lara still confronts wildlife (limited to 4 big cats and 2 dogs in the game), it is made clear that she only kills in self defense and feels remorse whenever she has to do so, as indicated in the following exchange from the first level:

Alister: Why predators attack prey larger than themselves is a mystery.
Lara: And a pity.

Later in the level she states this when she kills another jaguar:

Lara: Someone picked an unfortunate place to hunt

Also raising complaints from some fans was her portrayal in Legend - whereas in earlier games, she was shown as dark, mysterious, enigmatic, and rather sardonic. In Legend - possibly given her higher level of interaction with people (via her headset and people she knew from her past) - she was shown as a more humorous, wisecracking, respectful sort who seemed more open. Also drawing some ire was the fact that her backstory from previous games seems to have been rewritten to suit the Crystal Dynamics Lara.

[edit] Actors and models

A listing of actors/models who officially have been playing the role of Lara Croft, Angelina Jolie not included.

[edit] Voice actresses

Lara has been voiced by four actresses:

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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